happy people

Change Please: A Tale of Innovation, Social Enterprise and Good Coffee

Cemal Ezel has a company called Change Please which helps homeless people become baristas, access vital services and get safely, and sustainably, off the streets. Sir Richard Branson called Change Please his ‘start-up of the year’ in 2019 and it was rated the ‘Best Social Enterprise in the World’ in 2018. Cemal personally was rated the 46th Coolest Person in the World in 2015, and we definitely agree with that! In this video from the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference, Cemal takes us through Change Please’s journey from inception to the modern day, and beyond.

Employee Engagement: Transforming Culture

Speaking at the 2017 Happy Workplaces conference, Nita Clarke OBE and David MacLeod OBE look at the increasing demands employees have of their workplaces and the four enablers of employee engagement.

Creating a Culture of Leadership Development

By investing in its people, US e-commerce company Next Jump has experienced both revenue growth and business transformation. In this talk at the 2017 Beyond Budgeting Conference, Kevin and Chris from Next Jump explain how to navigate the "lying, hiding, faking" problem and how investing in leadership development will get you to Beyond Budgeting.

Ambition to Action: The Equinor Beyond Budgeting Journey

Bjarte Bogsnes has worked in finance and HR at Norwegian energy company Statoil (now called Equinor) for over 35 years. In his talk at the 2017 Beyond Budgeting Conference, Bjarte—who's also the Chairman at the Beyond Budgeting Institute—explains how it’s possible to hang onto the flexibility of a small organisation without losing the benefits of being big.

Be specific with your values if you want to stand out

In this three-minute clip from the 2017 Happy Workplaces CEO Conference, Dom Monkhouse explains why organisations being specific with their values is so essential and why not doing so means the organisation will just end up being beige.

3 v 45: The three most important things I've learned about culture change

Isabelle Trowler became the chief social worker for Children and Families in 2013. The title of her talk at the 2017 Creating Happy Workplaces in the Public Sector Conference—“3 versus 45”— refers to her general tendency to speak about 45 things. For this talk, Isabelle sought to condense the lessons she’s learned over a 25 year career into three main points she thinks everyone should take on board. Watch the full talk here.

Why you should give responsibility to frontline practitioners

Across a 25 year career in social work, Isabelle Trowler has consistently railed against a raft of imposed procedures and rules. In this four-minute clip from the 2017 Creating Happy Workplaces in the Public Sector Conference, Isabelle explains what happened when she started to delegate the decision-making as close to the frontline as possible.

Build a business, create a great culture, win awards and make a profit

Dominic Monkhouse developed the UK divisions of the web-hosting businesses, Rackspace and Peer 1. He tried to make them exciting places to work by giving employees freedom within clear guidelines and heeding the "recruit for attitude, train for skill" precept. In his talk at the 2017 Happy Workplaces CEO conference, Dom poses the question, “What are you going to make a difference in? Who with?” Watch the full talk here.

Implementing Happy Principles in a Public Sector Mutual

Brendan O’Keefe was inspired by the Happy Manifesto and sought to implement its ideas at Epic CiC—an education support public mutual founded in response to the changing landscape of public sector funding. Speaking at the 2017 Creating Happy Workplaces in the Public Sector Conference, Brendan explains how he took a more active role in stimulating great results and growing a happy workplace.

Doing Things Differently in Children's Services

As Head of Children’s Services at Monmouthshire County Council, Tracy Jelfs faced the difficult task of improving KPIs, reining in spending and creating a happy, engaged workplace while also delivering quality services to vulnerable children and young people. Speaking at the 2017 Creating Happy Workplaces in the Public Sector Conference, Tracy details her experiences tackling these twin challenges.